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Drinking and driving – an international good practice manual

The second good practice manual, on drinking and driving, was launched by the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) ahead of the UN Road Safety Week.

Drinking and driving is one of the main causes of road crashes worldwide. In high-income countries about 20% of fatally injured drivers have excess alcohol in their blood, while in some low- and middle-income countries these figures may be up to 69%. Effective drinking and driving programmes have the potential to save thousands of lives, and was identified by the World report on road traffic injury prevention as a proven and effective measure to reduce death and injury on the road.

The good practice manual Drinking and driving: a road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners, proposes simple, effective and low-cost solutions to prevent drinking and driving that can be implemented on a national or local level. It targets governments, non-governmental organizations and road safety practitioners, particularly those in low and middle-income countries.

The manual draws on experience from countries that have succeeded in reducing drinking and driving and includes guidance on the following:

The background evidence to start a drinking and driving programme,

The steps needed to undertake a problem assessment in a country,

How to plan and implement a programme, including setting up a working group, developing a plan, examples of laws and enforcement, how to develop public education and publicity campaigns, and finally how to evaluate the programme.

In developing this manual the authors have drawn on case studies from around the world to illustrate ‘good practice’. The manual will be implemented in a number of countries over the next two years, starting in China through the Global Road Safety Partnership’s GRSI initiative, but extending to cover countries from Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

Drinking and driving was produced in collaboration with the WHO, World Bank, and FIA Foundation as the second in a series of road safety good practice manuals being published as part of the UN Road Safety Collaboration.

GRSP Chief Executive David Silcock said "drinking and driving is one of the major causes of road crashes and often innocent victims, not the drunk driver, are killed or maimed. We will work closely with our partners around the world to apply this good practice and urge all committed to road safety to take a long hard look at the issue in their country".